Domestic (Bifottorng. 
RAO CARPETS. 
Rag Carpets, about which there has been 
so much discussion of late years, are not 
likely to fall into disfavor by those who have 
ever made or used them—for, if properly 
made and arranged, they are very pretty as 
well as serviceable and inexpensive. And it 
is not an Herculean task to make one, either, 
as some would have us believe. When 1 was 
a young woman at home, my mother and I 
cut and sewed the rags for thirty-five yards 
of carpeting in three months, besides doing 
the housework, for the family of six persons. 
We colored the warp ourselves, which 
lessened the expense; besides it was durahle, 
for that which we buy (colored! is usually 
rotted in the dye, more or less. Some of 
the rags we also colored. The warp cost, 
$3.50 aud the weaving $3.50, making the car¬ 
pet cost us but twenty cents per yard—except 
perhaps fifty cents for coloring matter— 
besides our own work, and I am sun’ we 
could not have procured one half so pretty or 
durable for twice that amount. One aud 
one-fourth pounds of cotton, and one and one- 
half pounds of woolen rags are sufficient to 
the yard, unless it is more than a yard wide. 
An excellent way is to cut and sew the rags 
as fast as the garments are worn out, keeping 
each color separate. Or if you intend making 
your carpet “hit or miss,” cut and wind 
them without sewing, and when you have 
enough for the carpet, sew and arrange them 
as you see fit. Julia M. W. 
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ORIGINAL RECIPE8. 
Corn Bread. —Four cups of sweet milk ; 
two cups of sour milk ; one-half cup of 
molasses ; one-half cup of sugar ; three cups 
of flour ; five cups of corn meal ; one table- 
spoonful of soda. Bake two hours. 
Molasses Cookies. -One cup of molasses ; 
one-half cup of sugar ; one cup of lard ; one 
cup of water; one teaspoonful of ginger; 
one teaspoon of soda, heaped on as long as 
any will stay on the spoon. Mix rather soft 
and bake lightly. 
Pudding, —Three tablespoonfuls of butter ; 
one cup of sugar ; one egg ; one cup of 
milk ; heaping teaspoon of baking powder. 
If you do not have baking powder, mix one 
third of soda with two-thirds of cream of 
tartar and it will he the same thing. This 
makes enough to bake in two common round 
tins. 
Sauce for Pudding.— One-half cup of but¬ 
ter ; one cup of sugar ; the white of one 
egg ; heat all together. Have ready a pint 
or more of boiling water, stir in the above 
and let boil half a minute. 
White Cake. —One-half cup of butter; two 
cups of sugar ; one cup of sweet milk ; three 
cupsof flour ; the whites of four eggs; one 
teaspoonful cream of tartar; one-half tea¬ 
spoonful soda. Twice this quantity for a 
large loaf, 
Snow Cake.— The whites of ten eggs, one 
and one-half cups of powdered sugar ; one 
cup of flour ; one teaspoonful of cream of 
tartar ; one-half teaspoon soda. Mix all but 
the eggs first, then beat, those until very stiff, 
then add them, and just mix through lightly. 
Flavor with Almond or Rose or juice of a 
lemon. Mrs. Minnie Rose. 
Alda, Hall Co., Neb., 1875. 
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DOMESTIC ITEMS. 
Gray marble hearths can be rubbed with 
linseed oil, and no spots will show. 
A solution of chloride of iron will remove 
nitrate of silver stains from the hands. 
Butter will remove tar spots. Soap and 
water will afterwards take out the grease 
stain. 
Kerosene aud powdered lime, whiting, 
or wood ashes will scour tins with the least 
labor. 
Shellac is the best cement for jet 
articles. Smoking the joint renders it black 
to match. 
Unslacked lime is excellent for cleaning 
small steel articles, such as jewelry, buckles, 
and the like. 
To prevent moths in carpets, wash the 
floor before laying them with the spirits of 
turpentine or benzine. 
Gold bronze for furniture is a mixture of 
copal varnish mixed with gold-colored bronze 
powder. The last is a bisulphate of tin. 
A teaspoonful of powdered borax dis¬ 
solved in a quart of tepid water is good for 
cleaning old black dresses of silk, cashmere, 
or alpaca. 
Sprigs of wintergreen or ground ivy will 
drive away red ants ; branches of worm¬ 
wood will serve the same purpose for black 
ants. 
Straw mattiug should be washed with a 
cloth dampened in salt water. Indian meal 
sprinkled over it. and thoroughly swept out 
will also cleanse it finely. 
Frosted glass, useful for screens, etc., is 
made by laying the sheets horizontally and 
covering them with a strong solution of sul¬ 
phate of zinc. The salt crystalizes on dry¬ 
ing. 
Spots can be taken out of marble with 
finely powdered ptiraieestone mixed with 
verjuice. Cover the spots and allow the 
stuff to remain for twelve hours ; then rub 
clean, dry and rinse. 
Flaxseed and tallow are used in Germany 
as a stuffing for cushions. One part of tallow 
to ten parts of flaxseed are. employed, the 
mobility of the greased seed rendering the 
cushion very soft, and pliable. 
Two ounces of common tobacco boiled in a 
gallon of water is usod by the Chatham 
Street dealers for renovating old clothes. 
The stuff is rubbed on with a stiff brush. 
The goods are nicely cleaned, and strange to 
add no tobacco smell remains. 
An oaken color can be given to new pine 
floors and tables by washing them in a solu¬ 
tion of copperas dissolved in strong lye ; a 
pound of the former to a gallon of the latter. 
When dry, this should be oiled, and it will 
look well for a year or two ; then renew the 
oiling. 
In washing windows, a narrow-shaped 
wooden knife sharply pointed, will take out 
the dust that hardens in the corners of the 
sash. Dry whiting will polish the glass, 
which should first he washed with weak 
black tea mixed with a little, alcohol. Save 
the tea leaves for the purpose. 
Jltigieitic information. 
PURE AIR NECE8SARY TO SU8TAIN 
HEALTH. 
The office of the lungs is in cleanse the 
blood, and fit it to nourish the syst. m. But 
they cannot do this, unless the air breathed 
is purer than that admitted into most dwel¬ 
lings in winter. Those who put listing around 
their doors, and cork their windows, exclude 
what little pure air might come in at those 
places by day and night. This is but a trifle 
to what ought constantly to come in ; but it 
is better than none, and ought not to be 
excluded. 
We cannot suspend respiration when the 
wind blows or the air is cold ; but if the air 
we breathe is impure as that which most 
people breathe who confine themselves 
mostly to close rooms, the blood becomes 
impure and disease sets in, in various forma. 
We must have more pure air in our d wellings, 
stores, shops, school-rooms and all other 
places where people and animals resort, to 
sustain health or life in the feeble. All such 
places ought to be provided with good venti¬ 
lators. Where they are not provided the 
inmates suffer for want of sufficient, pure 
air. 
The lungs are filled with minute air cells 
for cleansing the blood as it passes through 
them. If the air supplied to the lungs is 
pure, and the air cells are not hindered from 
expanding by tight clothing (as they often 
are,) the blood will be pure and nourishing, 
disease will vanish, and consumption will 
find no lurking place in the system. 
But few people breathe as pure air as they 
need to secure perfect health, and many die 
for want of sufficient to sustain life. These 
are the young and the feeble who seldom go 
out, and whose rooms are not sufficiently 
ventilated. No drafts should come upon 
the young and feeble whioh will cause them 
to take cold, though a cold will not injure 
them half as much as impure air. Some 
houses have windows to drop from the top, 
and shutters inside so that they can regulate 
the draft so as to cause no inconvenience to 
the inmates from cold air, by day and night. 
These are very useful for supplying fresh air 
to the inmates of the room. 
Hattie Hopeful. 
-- 
REMEDY FOR CROUP. 
When Croup makes its appearance, which 
may be known by a ringing cough, I wrap 
the child in warm flannel and put its feet in 
warm water; then rub the breast and 
bottoms of the feet and palms of the hands 
with Dr. A. Trask’s Magnetic Ointment, or, 
in the absence of th© ointment, I have used 
chicken oi). I have many times cured the. 
croup as above, when taken in time, and as 
many times have seen it need more active 
treatment. If I he child breathes hard, oris 
struggling for breath, take one heaping tea 
spoonful of pulverized alum, with two or I 
three of honey (molasses or sugar will do), 
and a little warm water to make it. thin 
enough fora child to swallow readily. When 
the patient is very bad, give one teaspoonfu! 
of the mixture every ten minutes, until he 
vomits. This dose is intended for a child 
two years old. The child should also take a 
tablespoonful of sweet oil. (Chicken oil will 
answer the purpose if the former is not at 
hand.) 
The mixture of alum and honey outs the 
phlegm loose and causes it to be thrown up. 
Watch the child closely. Keep it warm. 
See that the bowels are free, and do not 
allow it to breathe any cold air until it is 
well. For very young children this dose 
should be weakened. I have given it to a 
baby two months old with perfect success, 
though there was but a little alum in it. I 
have cured raychildron and others of croup in 
its worst form and different stages, with the 
ahove treatment. I lost my first born, a 
darling boy of twenty months, with croup 
before 1 leamed the. cure. Those who have 
children subject fo croup will not object to 
reading these lines. Sarah. 
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PNEUMONIA AND PLEURISY. 
Many of our readers have no doubt noticed 
that many people suffer from, and some die 
of, the disease called pneumonia, especially 
at this season of the year. Tl, is useful to 
know the general nature of prevalent, 
diseases, and the proper remedies to he 
applied to them when the symptoms first 
appear, for if “ prevention is better than 
cure,” an early cure, for almost every 
physical ill, is far easier and better than a 
late one. 
Pneumonia and pleurisy, both of which 
are common Rt this season, are. affections of 
the lungs. Pneumonia attacks the sub 
stance of the lungs, while pleurisy affects 
the plcars, which is the membrane that 
covers, or envelopes the lungs. Pneumonia 
causes the thickening and hardeniug of the 
lungs, and the air passages to bo filled up, 
so that bi'ni*»lung is more or less difficult. 
Pleurisy inflames the pleura, and uguully 
attacks the left side ; when the right side is 
affected, it is because it is complicated 
by some disorder of the liver. Pneumonia 
first betrays itself in a difficulty of breathing, 
with a tendency to cough, and fever, follow¬ 
ed by a deep pain in the chest. People arc 
often apt to mistake its symptoms for those 
of consumption ; but, while it Is more often 
fatal than pleurisy, and sometimes develops 
Into consumption, it does not do so in a large 
proportion of eases. 
Pleurisy comes on much more suddenly 
than pneumonia, and develops more rapidly, 
but is simpler in its results on the system. 
Its first symptoms are a sharp pain in the 
side, such as might be caused by a sudden 
knife-thrust, attended by the inability to 
take a long breath, a very rapid pulse, high 
fever and a flushed face, with au anxious 
expression. Pleurisy, however, has no 
tendency to grow into consumption, and 
attacks persons who have the most vigorous, 
as those who have weak constitutions. It is 
seldom fatal, and it is thought by many 
physicians to be a much less serious disease 
since the practise of bleeding patients 
attacked by it has been abandoned. 
Both these distempers are mainly caused 
by going suddenly into the cold air from 
very warm or crowded rooms. In passing 
thus from one temperature to the opposite, 
you should always he careful to move slowly, 
and breathe lightly, so as to accustom the 
lungs gradually to the change. 
In case a person is attacked by pneumonia 
or pleurisy at a time when a doctor cannot 
at once be summoned, the first thing done 
should be to bathe the feet iu a hot water- 
and-mustard bath, taking light gruel or flax¬ 
seed tea, and getting into a warm bed. 
The perspiration thus caused is excellent. 
Sage tea may also be taken. A convenient 
and common remedy for the difficult breath¬ 
ing, and one which is, or ought to be, at 
hand in every well-ordered household, is 
sweet spirits of niter, taken in doses of half a 
teaspoonful every hour till the breathing is 
relieved. It ueed scarcely be said, however, 
that iu all possible cases whore either of 
these diseases threatens, a doctor should be 
called without delay, that it may be met 
and checked at the outset. 
A BAD WINTER FOR 8CIATICA. 
Sciatica, the name given by medical men 
to neuralgia of the great sciatic nerve, is 
exceptionally prevalent tills Winter. An 
eminent medical writer says it has been 
shown to be a frequent complication of the 
gout, bul rheumatism Is its most common 
cause. It is one of the most obstinate forms 
of neuralgia, Is characterized by irregular 
pains about the hip, especially between the 
great trochanter of the thigh bone and the 
bony process on which the body rests when 
sitting, spreading into neighboring parts, 
and running down the back of the thigh 
to the leg and foot, or the pains may ouly 
occupy isolated parts, as the kuoo joint, the 
calf of the log or the sole of the foot. The 
treatment is nearly the same as that of 
neuralgia generally. 
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HYGIENIC NOTES. 
For Diphtheria.- Dr. Revillout states that 
lemon juice, used as a gargle, is an 
efficacious specific against diphtheria and 
similar throat troubles. He has successfully 
thus employed it for over eighteen years. 
Cure for Frozen Feet. - I have tried almost 
everything that could be mentioned, but 
found nothing equal to a mixture of turpen¬ 
tine and camphor gum. 
THE GRASSHOPPERS IN NEBRASKA. 
In Rural New-Yorker of Jan. 2, n . cor¬ 
respondent, asks ;—“ Will some reader of the 
Rural New-Yorker in the districts where 
the grasshoppers were so destructive, please 
state, through the Rural, what they destroy 
and what is left by them f” It is quite prob¬ 
able that replies will come, from sections 
where they have been moro destructive than 
herein Adams Co., Neb., in which case please 
throw this aside. In this County they took 
nearly every piece of corn, both car and leaf, 
leaving the stalks as bare as if they had been 
pastured by a herd of cattle, 'l’hey came too 
late to injure the wheat and potatoes ; did 
but it slight injury to oats, cutting off the 
stem that supports the grain, causing the 
same to fall upon the ground. Young orch¬ 
ards were stripped of their leaves and bark. 
The County is only three years old, so there 
are no old orchards. Almost everything in 
the flower gardens seemed to be toothsome 
to them. They don’t like sorghum. Corn is 
the first crop raised when the prairie is newly 
broken. Thousands ventured all on a crop of 
corn and lost all. We are glad to say relief 
is flowing in and is being wisely distributed 
by the State Aid Society, having its head¬ 
quarters at Omaha. Relief is being sent in 
by churches and orders of various kinds for 
distribution by private individuals, who will 
seek out and aid those who would suffer 
rather than ask alms. Clothing and money 
is needed. With a few years of plenty the 
cry for bread in the East, should it come, will 
be met with trains loaded with grain and 
meat from the great West. R. H. Crank. 
.Juniata, Neb., Jan. 9, 1875. 
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ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES. 
Colorado Potato Beetle.— They will be on 
hand early in the spring, as soon as the pota¬ 
toes are up—not to eat the young potato 
stalks but to deposit their eggs, each one 
about a million. The best way is to pick the 
old ones off by hand. When the young ones 
get too thick for comfort, give them a dose 
of Paris green; mix enough with water to 
make it a dark green. Apply with a common 
watering pot with a fine rose. Do not handle 
them if you have a sore or cut on your face 
or hands. When hurning, the smoke from 
them is poisonous. Eastern farmers who 
have uot received a call from them yet should 
be prepared for them, for they will surely 
call on you. Kill the first one you see and 
keep on killiug. Commence in time ; don’t 
let them run two or three years, as we did. 
They did not injure the crop at first, and we 
thought they would leave in a few years ; 
but they came to stay. We have got them 
thinned out a little.— Young Farmer, Jeffer¬ 
son Co., N. Y. 
“ Chintz”-bug is striking and dry-goodsy, 
and may mean in some eases just the thing 
it is used for ; but if it ever does that thing 
is new and we would like to see it; if it does 
not, then Chinch-bug would be better, 
Major-but will not mention names. 
Colorado Potato Bug. —One part of Paris 
green iu twenty parts of gypsum or plaster, 
or of flour is the proportion generally used. 
MARCH 20 
